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Shark! Great White Image Circa Jaws Captured by Film Crew Goes Viral

Shark! Great White Image Circa Jaws Captured by Film Crew Goes Viral

It looked like a hoax, but an image of a great white shark captured by a film crew went viral. The photo of the shark looks eerily like a scene from JAWS, but the close up of the toothy encounter is real.

Dave Riggs and his crew were out in the waters of Australia, shooting scenes for a documentary that will be aired on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. The team was filming near Port Lincoln in South Australia when the 15ft-long great white shark approached the boat. She began “researching the area” with her mouth Riggs explained. The creature was extra curious, and swam close to the boat trying to check it out. The photo, snapped by Luke Thom, appears to be an well-photoshopped scene from JAWS, but it’s authentic.

Riggs posted the shark pic with the caption, “This is how a great white “sniffs” .. it looks frightening but this .. it really is .. the last dinosaur .. WE MUST PROTECT this magnificent creature!!!!” From there, the stunning image of the shark encounter went viral. Most doubted its authenticity, but it’s highly likely we will see this story in a feature during Discovery’s upcoming Shark Week special.

This is then only shark that has the world’s attention. Mary Lee, a 3,456-pound, 16ft-long great white shark being tracked by OCEARCH, was “pinged” near the Jersey Shore. She’s become something of a star complete with a Twitter account. Currently, Mary Lee the Shark has over 35,000 followers. You can follow her and her tracking patterns with a dose of shark puns and wit.

These beasts are scary, but endangered. Click HERE to learn how to stay safe during you beach trip without hurting any animals. Or, if you are fascinated by sharks, try and education adventure and swim with them in Shark Encounters for Your Next Vacation: Swim, Feed or Watch Sharks.

To feed your shark frenzy now, enjoy these 4 shark facts…

  1. *The average Great White Shark is around 15-feet. FYI – the fictitious shark from Jaws was 25-feet.
  2. *Of the average 100 shark attacks a year, great whites are responsible for one-third to one-half of the attacks according to National Geographic.
  3. *Great white sharks can live up to 70 years.
  4. *A great white is actually warm-blooded,contrary to most other fish according to Florida Museum of Natural History.